Political Instability? 1919 - 1923

In the early years of the Republic there were many potential threats
to the new Government. You need to be aware of the threats and the manner
in which these were overcome. This unit offers a brief narrative of some
of the more significant events and themes which dominated the political
arena in this period.

The Spartacist Uprising

The Spartacist's had extreme left wing political views. This group split
from the SPD (Independent Socialists) in frustration at the SPD's role
within Government. The leaders of the Communist party were Rosa Luxemburg
and Karl Liebnecht. The aims of the Spartacist's were outlined in their
Manifesto:

The Spartacist Manifesto 1918

The question today is not democracy or dictatorship. The question
that history has put on the agenda reads: bourgeois democracy or socialist
democracy. For the dictatorship of the proletariat does not mean bombs,
putsches (pushes), riots and anarchy, as the against of capitalist profits
deliberately and falsely claim. Rather, it means using all instruments
of political power to achieve socialism, to expropriate the capitalist
class, through and in accordance with the will of the revolutionary majority
of the proletariat.

On January 1st, 1919, members of the Spartacist movement rose in an attempted
revolution. Initially this move was opposed by both Liebnecht and Luxemburg,
the leaders of the movement. The newly formed Weimar Government reacted
promptly, and brutally. The army was deployed to bring the revolution
to an end, and these were aided by the Frei Corps, a paramilitary group
consisting of former servicemen. Order had been restored to the streets
of Berlin by the 13th of January. Both Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnecht
were killed whilst in police custody.

Source Material:

"Great masses of workers...answered the call
to struggle. Their favourite slogan 'Down, down, down' (with the
government) resounded once more. I had to cross the procession
at the Brandenburg Gate, in the Tiergarten, and again in front
of general staff headquarters. Many marchers were armed. Several
trucks with machine guns stood at the Siegessaule. Repeatedly,
I politely asked to be allowed to pass, as I had an urgent errand.
Obligingly, they allowed me to cross through. If the crowds had
had determined, conscious leaders, instead of windbags, by noon
that day Berlin would have been in their hands." Noske, in
a written recollection of the Uprising.

"Barricades were erected and fighting broke
out as the Freikorps attempted to restore normality. The government
acted swiftly, giving Noske dictatorial powers over all Berlin.
He immediately gave orders for 30,000 Freikorps troops to enter
the city. On 9 March the Workers' and Soldiers' Council decided
to call an end to the strike, but this failed to placate Noske
and the Freikorps. On the contrary, he announced 'any person who
bears arms against the government troops will be shot on the spot.'
By the time the fighting ended some 2-3000 workers were dead and
at least 10,000 were wounded. On 10 March, Leo Jogiches, the chairman
of the Communist Party, was murdered in a police station, 'while
trying to escape'." Quoted from http://www.marxist.com/germany/chapter3.html

The Kapp Putsch

In March of 1920 a right wing group, led by Wolfgang Kapp rose in Berlin.
This group consisted of members of the paramilitary Freikorps and had
the support of many army officers.

Kapp was a right wing journalist who opposed the government on the grounds
that he held it responsible for the humiliating Treaty of Versailles.
This view was shared by many leading officers of the German Army, who
Kapp turned to for support. Two significant officers chose to support
Kapp, General Luddwitz and General Ludendorff. On 13th March, Luddwitz
orchestrated an uprising in Berlin. Troops sympathetic to the uprising
took control of Berlin and a Right Wing Government was proclaimed by Luddwitz.

Ebert, the president, was forced to leave Berlin. The government could
not be sure of support from the army, though much of the officer corps
had not joined the uprising, nor could he utilise the Freikorps as had
been done with success against the Spartacist's On this occasion ebert
turned to the ordinary people and called for a General Strike. This, if
successful, would make it impossible for the uprising to succeed as they
would not have the means to manage the people. On 17th March Kapp and
Luddwitz fled Berlin, the strike having been successful in making the
uprising unfeasible. However, despite the relative short period of time
that Kapp had control of Berlin, the uprising did make several things
clear:

The support of the army could not be taken for granted

There was not universal support for the Weimar Government

The Government had limited means of dealing with uprisings of this
nature

Politicians were not necessarily safe in Berlin

Analysis of several factors is possible here. The army didn't openly
support Kapp, nor did it rush to the aid of Ebert and the government.
What does this mean? How could the Government ensure its survival? Why
did the people of Berlin support the Government and go on Strike?

Source Material:

"The pervasive social and political discontent growing out
of Germans' grievances, justified or not, soon had consequences. A
right-wing coup d'état in March 1920, the Kapp Putsch--named
for its leader, Wolfgang Kapp--failed only because of a general strike.The
military had refused to intervene, although it did brutally suppress
some Communist-inspired uprisings shortly thereafter. The establishment's
tacit support of unlawful right-wing actions such as the Kapp Putsch
and violent repression of the left endured to the end of the Weimar
Republic. This support could also be seen in the sentences meted out
by the courts to perpetrators of political violence. Right-wing terrorists
usually received mild or negligible sentences, while those on the
left were dealt with severely, even though left-wing violence was
but a fraction of that committed by the right. " Photius Coutsoukis,
2001.

Hyperinflation

Inflation is the term used to describe an increase in the cost of goods
in an economy. Typically a rate of inflation will be between 2 and 6%
over the course of a year. This means that if something costs £1
at the start of the year, it will cost £1.02 - £1.06 a year
later. In general, it is accepted that relatively low levels of inflation
are a good thing for an economy, however high levels of inflation pose
problems as companies cannot accurately forecast their results and the
value of money drops disproportionately to the value of goods and / or
labour. Hyper inflation is a term used to describe levels of inflation
that are very high. This was the case in Germany in the period 1919 -
1923.

In January 1919 one US Dollar could buy 8.9 German marks. In January
1922 one US Dollar could purchase 191.8 German marks. What does this mean?

This means that the buying power of the German mark (Germany's currency)
has dropped at an incredible rate. Something that cost one US dollar in
1919 would have cost 8.9 German marks. 3 years later it costs 191.8 German
marks, but still is worth one US Dollar. This shows that the value of
the German currency has dropped dramatically. Several things contributed
to this devaluation of the German currency, which continued to decline
in value throughout 1922 and 1923:

The Reparations Bill. Having to pay the Allies large sums of money
had a significant impact upon the German economy. It meant that a large
proportion of income had to leave the country.

Reaction to the Reparations Bill. In order to manage Reparations payments
strict economic controls and fiscal (taxes) practices were required.
It can be argued that the Government deliberately failed to put many
of these things into place, in an attempt to force the Allies into rethinking
the level of Reparations to be paid. The consequences of this include
the following point:

French occupation of the Ruhr. The Ruhr valley is the Industrial heart
of Germany. Whilst it was occupied by the French, the german economy
could not benefit from its industrial output, thus straining the economy
even further.

The cost of War. even without the reparations, the war had a high
cost for Germany.

Loss of land and colonies. This led to the cost of raw materials increasing
as the German economy could no longer depend upon cheap imports from
her own colonies or produce the raw materials in the same quantities
from German sources. The increase in the cost of raw materials was inflationary,
it meant that prices would have to rise.

Printing more money. In order to control inflation, a Government can
limit the amount of currency in circulation. At the height of the reparations
repayment crisis the Weimar Government did the exact opposite, it printed
MORE money.

The scale of hyperinflation can be seen in this chart which illustrates
the cost of items against an index. 1 is the starting point, anything
above 1 is an increase in cost relative to that first figure (so 3 would
mean that items had risen in price by 300%). NB: Usually an index would
start with 100, the figures here are so large that the number of 0's would
simply become too onerous to type out!